# elles
## Asturian
### Etymology

From Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

### Pronoun

elles f pl
* they (female)

## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈe.ʎəs]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈe.ʎes]

### Pronoun

elles
* they (feminine)

#### See also

| | strong/subject | weak (direct object) | weak (direct object) | weak (indirect object) | weak (indirect object) | possessive |
| singular | | proclitic | enclitic | proclitic | enclitic | |
| 1st person | jo, mi$^3$ | em, m’ | -me, ’m | em, m’ | -me, ’m | meu |
| 1st person majestic$^1$ | nós | ens | -nos, ’ns | ens | -nos, ’ns | nostre |
| 2nd person | tu | et, t’ | -te, ’t | et, t’ | -te, ’t | teu |
| 2nd person formal$^1$ | vós | us | -vos, -us | us | -vos, -us | vostre |
| 2nd person very formal$^2$ | vostè | el, l’ | -lo, ’l | li | -li | seu |
| 3rd person masculine | ell | el, l’ | -lo, ’l | li | -li | seu |
| 3rd person feminine | ella | la, l’$^4$ | -la | li | -li | seu |
| 3rd person neuter | | ho | -ho | li | -li | seu |
| 3rd person reflexive | si | es, s’ | -se, ’s | es, s’ | -se, ’s | seu |
| plural | | | | | | |
| 1st person | nosaltres | ens | -nos, ’ns | ens | -nos, ’ns | nostre |
| 2nd person | vosaltres | us | -vos, -us | us | -vos, -us | vostre |
| 2nd person formal$^2$ | vostès | els | -los, ’ls | els | -los, ’ls | seu |
| 3rd person masculine | ells | els | -los, ’ls | els | -los, ’ls | seu |
| 3rd person feminine | elles | les | -les | els | -los, ’ls | seu |
| 3rd person reflexive | si | es, s’ | -se, ’s | es, s’ | -se, ’s | seu |
| adverbial | | | | | | |
| ablative/genitive | | en, n’ | -ne, ’n | | | |
| locative | | hi | -hi | | | |
| $^{1)}$ Behaves grammatically as plural. $^{2)}$ Behaves grammatically as third person. | $^{1)}$ Behaves grammatically as plural. $^{2)}$ Behaves grammatically as third person. | $^{1)}$ Behaves grammatically as plural. $^{2)}$ Behaves grammatically as third person. | $^{3)}$ Only as object of a preposition. $^{4)}$ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-. | $^{3)}$ Only as object of a preposition. $^{4)}$ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-. | $^{3)}$ Only as object of a preposition. $^{4)}$ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-. | $^{3)}$ Only as object of a preposition. $^{4)}$ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-. |

## Danish
### Noun

elles c
* indefinite genitive plural of el

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Old French eles, from Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛl/, (before a vowel) /ɛl.z‿/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: aile, ailes, elle, hèle, hèles, hèlent, L

### Pronoun

elles f pl (third-person plural, singular elle, accusative les, dative leur, emphatic elles, possessive determiner leur)
* they (female)
* them (female)

#### Related terms

| Number | Person | Gender | Nominative (subject) | Accusative (direct complement) | Dative (indirect complement) | Locative (at) | Genitive (of) | Disjunctive (tonic) |
| Singular | First | — | je, j’ | me, m’ | me, m’ | — | — | moi |
| Singular | Second | — | tu | te, t’ | te, t’ | — | — | toi |
| Singular | Third | Masculine | il | le, l’ | lui | y | en | lui |
| Singular | Third | Feminine | elle | la, l’ | lui | y | en | elle |
| Singular | Third | Indeterminate | on$^1$ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Singular | Third | Reflexive | — | se, s’$^4$ | se, s’$^4$ | — | — | soi$^4$ |
| Plural | First | — | nous | nous | nous | — | — | nous |
| Plural | Second | — | vous$^2$ | vous$^2$$^{,3}$ | vous$^2$$^{,3}$ | — | — | vous$^2$ |
| Plural | Third | Masculine | ils$^3$ | les | leur | y | en | eux$^3$ |
| Plural | Third | Feminine | elles | les | leur | y | en | elles |
    $^1$ Also used as the first person plural.
    $^2$ Also used as the polite singular form.
    $^3$ Also used when a group has both men and women.
    $^4$ Also used as third person plural reflexive.

### Noun

elles f
* plural of elle

### Further reading

* “elles”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* selle

## Hungarian
### Etymology

el- (“away, off”) +‎ les (“to spy, peep, peek”)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɛlːɛʃ]
* Hyphenation: el‧les
* Rhymes: -ɛʃ

### Verb

elles
* (transitive) to learn by watching, to acquire by (close and often secret) observation (from someone: -tól/-től)
** 1862, Imre Madách, The Tragedy of Man, translation by J.C.W. Horne, Iain MacLeod, and George Szirtes, Scene 1:
    Nehány golyóba összevissza gyúrva, / Most vonzza, űzi és taszítja egymást, / Nehány féregben öntudatra kél, / Míg minden megtelt, míg minden kihűlt, / És megmarad a semleges salak. – / Az ember ezt, ha egykor ellesi, / Vegykonyhájában szintén megteszi.
       That a few spheres this way or that revolve, / That one attracts another or repels, / That in a few worms dawns a consciousness, / Till all be fulfilled and till all grow cold / And only indistinguishable dust remain? / Why, man too, almost, if he should but learn, / Might in his kitchen seethe as good a broth
          Meanwhile this matter, kneaded into globes, / unfolds, attracts, repulses, whirls around, / till in some beast a conscious thought is kindled… / Then all fulfilled and all its heat expended, / indifferent, the neutral dust remains. / One day, man may himself acquire the knack / and plagiarize this crude experiment
             Are now screwed up into these tiny globes / That chase, attract or else repel each other, / Awaking a few worms to consciousness / Till all of space is tilled at last, grows cold, / And only the indifferent slag is left? / If man’s at all observant he’ll concoct / Some hash like this with his poor instruments.

#### Conjugation
### Further reading

* elles in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
* elles in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

## Latvian
### Noun

elles f
* inflection of elle:
** genitive singular
** nominative/vocative/accusative plural

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* alles, ells, ills, elle

### Etymology

From Old English elles, from Proto-West Germanic *alljas.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɛl(ə)s/

### Adjective

elles
* else

### Adverb

elles
* else

### Conjunction

elles
* else

### Descendants

* English: else
* Yola: elles

### References

* “elles, adj. (also as noun).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* “elles, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* “elles, conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Middle French
### Pronoun

elles f pl
* they (female).
* them (female).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From eller (“or”), from Old Norse ella, ellar, from Proto-Germanic *aljaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɛlːəs/

### Adverb

elles
* (conjunctive) else, otherwise
    Det lyt du gjera, elles går dette gale.You have to do that, else this will go wrong.

#### Synonyms

* annars

#### References

* “elles” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *alljas

### Adverb

elles
* else
** late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Seven Sleepers"
    ...ac mē tōdæġ swā wundorlīce is ġelumpen þæt ic þurh nān þincg ne mæġ ġecnāwan hwæðer þys sȳ Ephesa byriġ þe elles ǣniġ ōþer;...But to-day it has befallen me so wonderfully that I cannot by any means recognise whether this be the city of the Ephesians or else any other.

### References

* Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “ELLES”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

## Portuguese
### Pronoun

elles m pl
* Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of eles.

### Noun

elles m
* Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of eles.

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈeʝes/ [ˈe.ʝes]
* IPA: (most of Spain and Latin America) /ˈeʝes/ [ˈe.ʝes]
* IPA: (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines) /ˈeʎes/ [ˈe.ʎes]
* IPA: (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈeʃes/ [ˈe.ʃes]
* IPA: (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈeʒes/ [ˈe.ʒes]
* Rhymes: -eʝes
* Rhymes: -eʝes
* Rhymes: -eʎes
* Rhymes: -eʃes
* Rhymes: -eʒes
* Syllabification: e‧lles

### Pronoun

elles gender-neutral pl
* (gender-neutral, neologism) they; a gender-neutral plural third-person personal pronoun
** 2019, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Derechos humanos en la Argentina: Informe 2019, Siglo XXI Editores, →ISBN:Elles integraron los organismos junto a activistas que si bien no tenían parientes desaparecides se sumaron por trayectorias militantes y profesionales.They were part of the organizations along with activists who, although they had no relatives who had disappeared, joined them through militant and professional trajectories.
* plural of elle

#### See also

| | | | | nominative | dative | accusative | disjunctive |
| first person | singular | singular | singular | yo | me | me | mí$^1$ |
| first person | plural | masculine$^2$ | masculine$^2$ | nosotros | nos | nos | nosotros |
| first person | plural | feminine | feminine | nosotras | nos | nos | nosotras |
| second person | singular | tuteo | tuteo | tú | te | te | ti$^1$ |
| second person | singular | voseo | voseo | vos | te | te | vos |
| second person | singular | formal$^3$ | formal$^3$ | usted | le, se$^4$ | lo/la$^5$ | usted |
| second person | plural | familiar$^6$ | masculine$^2$ | vosotros | os | os | vosotros |
| second person | plural | familiar$^6$ | feminine | vosotras | os | os | vosotras |
| second person | plural | formal/general$^3$ | formal/general$^3$ | ustedes | les, se$^4$ | los/las$^5$ | ustedes |
| third person | singular | masculine$^2$ | masculine$^2$ | él | le, se$^4$ | lo | él |
| third person | singular | feminine | feminine | ella | le, se$^4$ | la | ella |
| third person | singular | neuter | neuter | ello$^7$ | le, se$^4$ | lo | ello |
| third person | plural | masculine$^2$ | masculine$^2$ | ellos | les, se$^4$ | los | ellos |
| third person | plural | feminine | feminine | ellas | les, se$^4$ | las | ellas |
| third person | reflexive | reflexive | reflexive | — | se | se | sí$^1$ |
* Not used with con; conmigo, contigo, and consigo are used instead, respectively
* Like other masculine Spanish words, masculine Spanish pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
* Treated as if it were third-person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity
* If le or les precedes lo, la, los, or las in a clause, it is replaced with se (e.g., Se lo dije instead of Le lo dije)
* Depending on the implicit gender of the object being referred to
* Used primarily in Spain
* Used only in rare circumstances

### Noun

elles f pl
* plural of elle

## Yola
### Etymology

From Middle English elles, from Old English elles, from Proto-West Germanic *alljas.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛls/

### Adjective

elles
* else

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 38